


Rotations

by Strawberrybats



Series: Gratuitous Fantasy AU [2]
Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F, enjoy!!!!, now ft dramatic travel scenes and all the exposition you didnt ask for from the first one, part two of This Thing, ur welcome ;)))
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 11:42:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8623258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strawberrybats/pseuds/Strawberrybats
Summary: "Umi had been dating Honoka for a hundred and twenty seven years. In that time, they'd lived in 24 towns, all over the world. That being said, Umi figured this one was the most run-down one yet - Honoka sure knew how to pick them."
Basically, Honoka is a near-godlike spirit that decides to spend her energy keeping her girlfriend alive instead of keeping the world in balance, or whatever. They have to move around quite a bit to keep that particular secret safe.





	

**Author's Note:**

> welcome back 2 the fantasy au workshop where i Literally Just Take Any Aspect of Fantasy I Enjoy and slap it together into one universe!!

Every morning, she rose at the crack of dawn, awake to greet the sunrise and begin meditation. In theory, it was supposed to soothe her nerves, wake her up, and help keep her mind and body fit.

….In practice, it was just an extremely convenient time for Honoka to come bother her.

“Geez, Umi! Do you ever miss a day?” While she didn’t crack an eye open, she scowled. Honoka laughed. “Wait, don’t tell me, don’t tell me! Last time you skipped was a year and twenty six days ago, right?”

Umi took a deep breath and released it, resisting the urge to open her eyes. “Yes. And if you don’t happen to recall _why_ , it’s because I awoke to find you sitting at the foot of my bed, naked.”

“With food!” Honoka argued, and Umi could hear the pout in her face. “What part of ‘breakfast in bed’ don’t you get?”

“The part that requires me to wake up with my face nearly _inside_ the breakfast tray,” She grunted, finally caving and cracking an eye open. Honoka sat against the wall on the other side of the room, absentmindedly fiddling with a small box. She pocketed it when she saw Umi looking and gave her her most winsome smile. “My streak would be three times as long if you hadn’t intervened like that.” Umi droned anyways, immune to the other girl’s charms.

Honoka rolled her eyes and meandered up to Umi looking expectant. Breakfast time, probably. When Umi didn’t give much of a reaction, she groaned. “Is routine all you care about? How can you not get _bored_?”

Umi snorted. “I’d hardly call being a preacher at the same time as dating a demon ‘boring’. Between the two, I’m surprised I haven’t burst into flames yet.” She replied dryly, finally standing and ending her stretches.

“I still don’t understand the concept. I’m human friendly, _not_ a demon – because they aren’t real, by the way – and spirits are way cooler and benign! Seriously, you should know!” She grumbled, following suit into the kitchen.

She shrugged. “People will be people. This kind of belief is all they – we – have.” Honoka looked ruffled anyways. Umi rolled her eyes this time and ruffled her hair. “Don’t pout; there’s nothing to be done about it.”

Even so, Honoka stuck her tongue out and shuffled past her in the hallway. “Well if that’s the case, then I wish someone made up better beliefs.” Umi stayed behind to make the bed, undeterred by the whining, and Honoka lingered in the hallway for her anyways, maintaining that childish front.

Umi shrugged. “Some exist. I’m sure that the belief in angels also came from spirits, and that’s much more positive, don’t you think?”

“I’m not sure.” Honoka replied, with just a trace of a frown. “Wouldn’t it be strange…? Beings that are completely, wholly good, but only come to help under orders….I think that sort of thing would freak me out a little.” She admitted.

Having finished fixing her bed, Umi gave her a lithe smile. “Are you really so terrible that you’re afraid of holy beings? Maybe you are a demon, and you’re just worried one day I’ll have you exorcised~?” Despite having been interrupted, there was a teasing lilt to Umi’s voice – she’d never stayed mad at Honoka, really, even if she tried to.

“Umii, what a mean thing to joke about.” Honoka said in a huff, wandering into the kitchen and pulling out a few slices of bread from the drawer. She set them on the pan, but didn’t touch the matches. “I just mean, like, wouldn’t it be weird? Everyone has done something bad, even if on accident. And then if they’re really so good, then how can they wait around for orders to help? Shouldn’t they know what to do on their own?”

“Philisophical today, aren’t we?” Umi asked flatly, watching Honoka char the first piece of toast with her flames. “You could just do it normally , you know.”

Rather than give a real response, Honoka shook it off and tried again, only crisping the next piece. She fried some eggs next, then hastily buttered both attempts and slid the nicer one over to Umi with the egg on top before unceremoniously dropping into the chair across the table from where Umi sat.

“I’m good.” She pushed the plate back.

Honoka pushed it to her again. “You need to eat more than just a couple dinky little meals every day! Just an apple for breakfast? It’s not enough!” She said insistently, and Umi reluctantly took the toast. Pleased, Honoka relaxed and took large bites of her own piece.

Content, the two of them stared out the window for a while. It was a beautiful day, Umi thought, watching a bee fly lazy circles around a dandelion. Not much wind, warm sun out, the lingering cool air from last night in shaded places – there couldn’t be a more perfect day for her line of work, the way she saw it. Bringing peace to people. Although, it kind of made her wish she could skip the lectures and just lay outside on a hilltop somewhere.

It wasn’t every day the world was as still as her.

But, come to think of it…..she looked down at her hands on the table, idly drumming her fingers against it while she thought and came to a conclusion. “Honoka.”

“Mmm?!” Still in the middle of a mouthful, Honoka startled, nearly spitting it out. Then she sheepishly smiles, swallowed it, and tried again. “Eheh, sorry, mouth was full. What’s up, Umi?”

She kept drumming the table, too distracted by her thoughts to even turn to look at Honoka. “I’ve been here for about…five years. I’m thinking….it’s time to move.” Umi said slowly.

Honoka grinned. “Road trip time! What kind of place do you want to find?”

Umi shrugged. “It doesn’t matter very much. Every place is the same, or at least in theory. Houses, people, community. Terrain is irrelevant.”

Honoka snorted and shook her head almost pityingly. “Don’t say that; otherwise you’re going to be jinxed!”

She rolled her eyes. “Moreso than already? I think I will be fine, though I appreciate the worry.”

“Aah, so dramatic, Umi. I’ll have to head out and find someplace really interesting for you to go~!” Honoka giggled and, with a suddenly sharper exhale, dissipated into a fog. Umi tracked the mist while, with a last, breathy giggle, Honoka passed by her and vanished entirely.

After that, she busied herself with ‘packing’ – grabbing a rucksack and pushing any of the better food into it, then slipping into her bedroom and taking all the money she’d managed to get during her stay here. Not useful, but she could use it to pay for her next house and that was enough.

Once that was done, nothing in the house really called to her – her bow and quiver were already outside, propped against the doorway, and it was all she needed. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to take a sword, though….Umi grabbed her old sword from the shed, and took a skinning knife along too.

She approached the doorway. Dusted herself off.

It was as good a day as any to start all over.

* * *

Though Honoka hadn’t given her a direction at first, Umi set out before she had the chance to come back anyways, having come to trust that deep, coiled feeling in the back of her mind that somehow made her feel as though she’d managed to pick the right direction anyways. She didn’t say goodbye to anyone.

A windless, cloudless day. Umi walked slowly up the hillside on the farther end of town, kicking up grass with her every step but never managing to make a real trail in the hillside. When she reached the peak and the town was at its’ smallest, Honoka returned, an immediate and comforting presence at her side. Warmth thrummed just beneath her fingers as she gave Umi’s shoulder a light touch. “Think you’ll miss them?”

“It’ll only be seven years before they’ve all forgotten my name.” That was nothing. The town seemed impossibly small from up high, and Umi could only ever hope to wonder how it seemed to Honoka.

Honoka huffed and crossed her arms, giving Umi a somehow disapproving look. “Maybe you changed someone’s life! Maybe they’ll remember you for ten, or fifty!” She argued.

She waved it off. “I won’t remember them, or be around to know how I’ve affected things, so it’s all the same.”

Honoka frowned, now seeming more determined than ever to force Umi to be positive. “There has to be someone! Come on, tell me the last person you _really_ remember that wasn’t from one of these last two towns.”

It got quiet. Honoka wriggled impatiently beside her, and Umi stared at the ground as if a name was going to entrench itself in the dirt and bring a face to her memory with it. “……forty years ago.” Umi settled on saying first, working the recollection of that time into words. “Those years we were in the north. A girl asked me if I was the one who saved her family from the bandits and gave me her lucky stone. I tied it to an arrow.”

“Do you still have it?” Honoka asked eagerly, seeming excited at the prospect of anything having made a lasting impression on Umi.

Much to Honoka’s excitement, Umi nodded and pulled out the arrow with a notch in its’ shaft, revealing a well-refined blue gemstone to be secured near the head with a few leather ties.

It was a vibrant, almost glowing shade of light blue, a pale circle surrounded by smooth stone in a radial pattern that reminded her of the sun. Shallow grooves in the surface of the stone made a pleasant sensation when one ran their fingers across it. Umi untied the stone and gave it to Honoka to turn around in her hands.

She fiddled with it for a while, oohing and aahing at the pattern until she handed it back to Umi with a dorky grin. “Maybe you should look for a descendant sometime! This looks important.”

“I don’t think I’d get back in time to see any descendants that would know of me.” Umi sighed, taking the gemstone back and re-tying it to her arrow. It wouldn’t help it fly; in fact, the weight would make it much harder to land a successful shot with that arrow. But a pocket felt too impermanent for it, with too high a chance of pickpockets, so around the arrow shaft it went. “Have you chosen a new town for us to go to?”

Seeming a little put out, but recovering quickly, Honoka gave Umi a mock salute. “Yup! I found a very interesting town! I think this one should stick with you a little longer than normal, heheh.”

“Really?” She asked, giving the redhead an encouraging look, and even a bit of a smile. More excited than ever, Honoka nodded. Umi smiled. “I’m intrigued. Lead the way.”

“I asked Nico about it, and she said I can even live with you this time~! And I mean really _really_ live with you, like, going out to town and everything! She says I’m responsible now, which is a super cool thing of her to say because even though I get sidetracked a lot I really do carry through with things I say I’ll do and I’m really excited!” Honoka rambled, clinging to Umi’s arm and swinging back and forth energetically. Umi kept her eyes on the ground, holding onto Honoka’s arm in turn when they nearly tumbled over a root.

“Don’t you think that could cause issues?” She asked, brow furrowed. “Someone working for the church having public relations with another woman, I mean…I know we aren’t in any danger, but I doubt we will be able to stay for long enough to do much of anything in this ‘interesting’ town….”

Honoka grinned. “Wee-e-ell, that’s part of what makes this town so interesting! There’s currently no church, and, considering the….circumstances, they don’t really care much at all what people do with their personal lives, save a few crimes. The village is isolated.”

This got another critical look from Umi. “Isolated by terrain or by culture?”

“Both. Big forest, lots of fences, unfriendly neighboring towns. Nobody wants to go in, and it’s rreaaally hard to go out.”

Umi stopped moving and gave Honoka a long, curious look. “I don’t see what about this town is so enticing to you.”

“I guess it’s the fauna~!” Honoka replied in a singsong voice, obviously too tickled by the idea of keeping a fun surprise to tell Umi what the deal was with the new place. She supposed that would have to do and that she’d understand when they got there – something that wouldn’t happen if she kept pausing like this.

Mind clear, she moved forward.

* * *

Though Honoka had offered many, _many_ times, Umi, as a general rule, refused to be teleported. After the first and sworn-to-be-last time she had accepted and found herself struck by lightning and transported to the center of a roaring storm, she’d decided that roughing it and just taking the journey on foot was endlessly safer and less prone to incident.

Umi liked when things were less prone to incident.

So on foot they went, though Honoka had a tendency to phase in and out of the plane as it pleased her, always lingering, keeping within a few meters of Umi even when she wasn’t entirely ‘there’. Just in case, she had promised. Honoka never mentioned what the ‘in case’ was, but Umi felt that, considering her ability with weaponry, it was something of the magical variety.

Honoka liked to talk while they traveled. Usually about innocuous things; what kind of sermon Umi had prepared, whether the hunting was decent in the area, should she visit her sisters again – this time she seemed a bit more concentrated and sullen.

She eventually decided to open the conversation herself. “Is there something on your mind?”

Honoka blinked. “What? Oh. It’s nothing that big!! I was just worried for someone.”

Umi narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out the point of vagueness. “A someone I know?”

Sheepishly, Honoka nodded. “Yes and no. My, uh, sister, Rin – she found a new friend! Eli is real sweet with her, I just….I worry. Rin is still very young, and she’s not done forming….I feel like someone should be supervising.” She admitted.

That got a bit of a rise out of her. Umi’s eyebrows went up. “You think she needs to be monitored? Isn’t Rin well into her twenties?”

“Yes and no,” Honoka said again, frustratingly. Seeing the look she was getting from Umi, she explained: “Rin has _existed_ for a while. Longer than twenty years, maybe. But she’s only been real here for maybe….. six years? Less? She’s mentally up to speed, sure, but she doesn’t – um, she doesn’t _know_ everything yet, and her friend is a human, and I don’t want her to learn the hard way.”

Something stirred in the pit of Umi’s stomach, not unlike anger, but heavier, more slippery. She couldn’t place it, but it rose to her chest and sat beneath her ribs like it was made of lead. “She doesn’t know we’re supposed to die.”

The somewhat pointed way she said it made Honoka dip her head, and even Umi regretted that harshness a little. She wasn’t angry about it, not really. She wanted to keep Honoka happy, and life wasn’t miserable by any stretch of the word, but…

After a century or so of being thirty years old, it grew tiring.

Once Honoka found her words again, she shook her head. “She understands a little. Not why, but she knows it happens. It’s the effects of being near humans that she’s new to. I told you before, she doesn’t have her whole body.”

“Meaning?”

She chewed on her lip for a while, seeming frustrated. Then she stood up straighter and reached for Umi’s sword, seeking permission with a glance and, after Umi’s nod, taking it from the belt and running the length of it across her arm.

“What the hell are you doing?” Umi’s protests were unheard, and while she wrenched the blade away, feeling disgusted with it, and herself, while a steady drip of inky black _substance_ fell from the tip of the blade. Umi attempted in vain to wipe the ichor off by rubbing the blade against nearby trees, but a bit of a stain stayed on.

Honoka raised her arm with a grimace, and kept it in Umi’s line of sight, gesturing to the gash and the blood that leaked onto the ground. “You already know what my blood looks like, but there’s something different about it. It’s not like yours – not just in color, in composition, too.”

She rubbed at the wound, earning a grimace from Umi – how she worked up the nerve to touch something that deep, she wouldn’t have known –and came away with a blackened handprint, which she wiped off on the ground. “Spirits aren’t built to be here. Our blood is just whatever we have a lot of, packed into our bodies. It’s like, raw liquid magic. But in concentrations like this…..It’s really, _really_ bad for stuff in this realm.”

The grass where Honoka had palmed it suddenly burst into color, warping violet and then red before ultimately shriveling, leaving a scorched-looking patch in the rough shape of a hand. Where it had been falling earlier, the dirt ran grey.

Umi squinted at it, kneeling to examine it better, and wary of touching it.

Honoka did something, some sort of spell, or another magick-y thing that Umi would never grasp completely, as inundated in it all as she was, and the wound disappeared under a layer of bandages. She ran the hand of the bad arm through her hair. “When we’re still forming, we have parts that are kind of like…storm clouds. Gas. It hasn’t condensed all the way yet. If a human inhales that……”

It began to make sense. Umi stood up, meeting Honoka’s furrowed gaze with her own. “They die?”

“They go crazy.”

She looked up, seeming unwilling to make eye contact. Umi figured this meant Honoka had some personal experience or other with it – and even though she was too polite to ask, that itch for the information lingered with her. Honoka knew it, too, because eventually she released a deep sigh and looked back to Umi.

“When I was younger, before I met you, I thought I could be helpful to everyone. I would use my still-incorporeal status to float around, telling people things about their future or surroundings – encouraging things, like ‘She really loves you back!’ or ‘the harvest is sure to be wonderful this season!’. But for some reason, everyone I tried to cheer up started acting awful right after.”

Honoka gestured then to her bandage. “Nico had to explain that they had accidentally been inhaling parts of my magic. I’ve always had so much, even then, that I never noticed…..they would absorb it all and it would eat at their brain.”

“That sounds disheartening.” It was an understatement. It was all Umi had to offer.

Honoka turned to look at her, head cocked just so and an air of gentleness about her that didn’t fit the mischievous attitude she usually carried. “Are you mad at me, Umi?”

Umi rolled her eyes and took the time to sheathe her sword, walking at a brisk pace while the startled spirit followed behind her. “I’m always mad at you for something or other. Nothing that will stick, though – that’s why I have to keep finding new reasons. Besides, why would I be upset over a story?”

“Not about that. Are you mad? That I’m keeping you with me?”

She paused. The sentence hung for a while, until eventually she shook her head in a terse ‘no’. “It’s not usual for humans. I understand that. But I don’t mind living with you, really. And I don’t think I’m going crazy.” Umi said softly. “I’m not worried about it.”

Honoka grinned, seemingly pulled through her gloomy mood. “So you’re not at all worried about me, huh?”

“That would be the implication, yes.” Stupid as it seems, the moment of sincerity made Umi feel good; a reminder of the first few decades of their life together. There was always a reason to stay on.

Of course, nothing good lasts, and Honoka immediately ruined the moment. “So you wouldn’t say no if I offered to get us there faster, right? Because you _lo-o-ove_ me~?”

“Not a chance in hell. We’re walking.”

“Ugh.” Honoka dramatically fell onto Umi’s shoulders, walking along but otherwise barely pulling her own weight. “Killjoy.”

* * *

They arrived in town about a week after that, and if nothing else, Umi supposed she had kind of asked for it, when she told Honoka ‘every town was the same’. Next time, she decided, she would specify that she still had standards and preferences.

The town Honoka had so proudly gestured to at the gate was a disaster. On a near-atomic level.

It was raining when they arrived, and the wet air only heightened the musky smell of the place. Mold and woodrot were apparent on most of the structures, bar a few important-looking ones made of stone. The houses, though, seemed a little too well-worn, holes in the sides and roofs patched up with heaps of logs or sticks, as opposed to seriously repaired. Small animals scampered away from every footfall, and Umi saw something with a suspicious number of eyes looking at her from a trashcan.

She wasn’t thrilled.

Umi had been dating Honoka for a hundred and twenty seven years. In that time, they'd lived in around 24 towns, all over the world. That said, Umi figured this one was the most run-down one yet - Honoka sure knew how to pick them.

“You seriously intend to start a life together _here_?” Umi asked incredulously, and Honoka responded to her annoyance with doubled enthusiasm.

“You wanted to make a difference, here’s the place! We can help out. Together.” She seemed pleased with herself.

Umi would grudgingly give her that, because it _was_ an interesting way of helping, but still…. “You could have chosen some place that smelled slightly better for this.”

Honoka rolled her eyes. “Come on, we’re supposed to meet the people in charge of this place.”

“Alright, I’m coming. Don’t think I’m not going to complain later, though.”

They walked until they reached what looked to be the tallest building in town, in front of a circular garden with a cobbled path. Two people waited for them on a bench, and when Honoka and Umi turned the corner, they already seemed to know where they’d be. They turned to look accordingly.

Unsettled, Umi made sure they were just as aware of where her weapons were, and how easily they could be drawn.

“Umi and Honoka, right?” The taller of the two spoke first, standing up from the bench without wasting much time. As if in tandem with the town around her, she looked slightly worse for wear, with frazzled hair and grey bags beneath her eyes.

They nodded; the woman tipped her head up just a fraction in response. “Maki. I’m the doctor. Nobody’s in charge, really, but I’m generally the safest person to talk to.”

“It’s a pleasure.” Umi replied for herself and Honoka. “How much do you want for the house?”

‘Maki’ laughed in her face. “You’re staying _here_. The last town you were in should be paying _you_.” She rolled her eyes. “Just try to make a contribution and I’ll call it even.” She dropped a set of keys into Umi’s hand, and Umi caught another strong whiff of that musky smell. Why did it seem so off to her..?

“Stay away from windows and doors at night; if you have any special needs, the woods are all around the property. Physical markers will tell you when you’re entering an at-risk area. Do you need anything else?”

Umi was about to say no, but Honoka chose then to butt in. “Umi used to work in churches. Do you need anything like that around here?”

“I don’t think anyone here knows what to do with a church. Chapel’s open if you’d like to try, though.”

She’d had her doubts at first, but it looked like Umi was going to get along swimmingly with her – they both hated wasting time. “Thank you. We’ll go get settled –“

“Is that your wife behind you?” Honoka peered over Umi’s shoulder, on the balls of her feet, looking for all the world as if she hadn’t asked a personal question of someone who could, presumably, kick them out of town.

Maki nodded, but looked more wary. “Yes, this is Hanayo. She can be shy.”

“Nice to meet you…..” The woman behind Maki mumbled, hardly looking past her bangs.

“You too!” Honoka replied chirpily. “I just wanted to make sure Umi and I weren’t ignoring you. Sorry! We’ll get going now. I hope we’ll be good neighbors.” That said, Honoka dragged Umi off by the arm, and it the most she could do to give them a wry smile and a wave in parting.

Umi did hear, though, the last things Maki said…..“..t do you think, Hanayo? ………..me too. That one…is definitely the one that got them sent here.”

If nothing else, the city certainly was going to be interesting.

Umi jogged to keep up with Honoka, and closed the curtains on the grey sky when they walked inside. For now, at least, it was home.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been in the Honoumi mood lately, but this was planned. My next parts should be on makipana in the town, aka i pretend im scripting a film noir and throw them into not-quite-dramatic scenes but write them like theyre ~tense~ and mysterious. Thanks for reading! ((also props if u Already Know whats going on in town tbh))


End file.
